Preserving mama’s pantry

Last year some of my children started preserving some of the things that they had enjoyed from mama’s pantry as children. Here are some of their successes. This year they are working hard, gardening, trying not to let anything go to waste and enjoying their grandchildren. Take care and I’ll be seeing you around…Agnes

Pickled Beets (Elizabeth)

Wash beets. Cut off all but 3 inches of stem. Leave the taproot. This will keep all the color from bleeding from the beets. Cover with boiling water and cook till beets are tender. Put in cold water while preparing syrup. Bring to a boil:

2 ½ cups sugar

2 ½ cups vinegar

1 ½ cups liquid from boiling beets (Be sure and strain.)

A spice bag made of 1 ½ teaspoon salt, 2 sticks of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon whole allspice. Add to syrup and boil for 15 minutes. Peel beets and slice to the desired thickness (1/4 inch to ½ inch), measure 3 quarts and add to liquid. Bring to a boil. Remove spice bag and pack beets in jars leaving ½ inch headspace. Cover with hot syrup. Seal and process for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Cucumber Pickle (William)

Soak 7 pounds of small washed and sliced cucumbers in a mixture of 1-gallon water with 2 cups slaked lime dissolved in it. Soak for 24 hours. Then wash cucumbers in cold water every hour for 4 hours, drain. Boil 2 quarts vinegar and 5 pounds of sugar with a spice bag (1 tablespoon each cinnamon, whole cloves, salt and whole allspice) and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour over cucumbers and let stand overnight. Do not put lid on pot until the mixture has cooled down. The next day, remove spice bag, squeeze, discard and bring cucumbers to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Put in jars and cover with syrup. Whip tops with a wet cloth, seal and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Green Tomato Jalapeno Pepper Jam (Arthur)

Makes about 3 cups or 3 eight ounce jelly jars

6 medium jalapenos (remove stem end and split in half, lengthwise, de-seed and chop

1/2 cup cilantro or parsley (chopped)

1 cloves garlic (chopped)

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 pound green tomatoes (peeled and chopped)

3 cups sugar

Put jalapenos, herbs, garlic, ginger, vinegar and soy sauce in a food processor. Chop but do not puree. Place the mixture into a sauce pan and add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook until it thickens, about 45 minutes. Make sure to stir.

Tomolives

4 pounds tiny green tomatoes (I use the plum tomatoes)

1 garlic cloves, peeled and into pieces the size of a field pea

1 sprig fresh dill for each jar

3 whole allspice for each jar

2 large peppercorns

3 and ½ cups water

1 and ¼ cup white vinegar

1and ½ tablespoons canning salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Wash tomatoes, carefully take the core out and push in a piece of almond, or pimento or garlic in the core area before packing tomatoes into clean quart jars. In each jar place 1 to 2 pieces of garlic and one sprig of dill. Boil vinegar, salt, sugar and water together for 1 minute and pour over tomatoes. Leave 1/4” headroom and adjust lids. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Recipe for Laughter:

Just to inform you…the Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate at Bergen Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the Gulf Stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years, it is predicted that due to the ice melt, the sea will rise and make most coast cities uninhabitable. ***

I must apologize. I neglected to mention that this was reported by The Associated Press and published in The Washington Post on Nov. 2, 1922. This must have been caused by the Model T Ford’s emissions or possibly from horses and cattle passing gas.

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